How to Choose the Right Parking Lot Light

The outside of a business requires proper lighting to help customers and staff feel safe and secure. Without the right lighting solution, crimes and accidents are more likely to occur which can have a negative impact on your business in a myriad of ways. Here are a few tips on how to choose the right parking lot light for your business to ensure success.

1. Consider the lamp type

The first step in how to choose the right parking lot light is to consider the lamp type. The lamps will play a big role in a range of outcomes such as overall brightening and visibility, lumen output, wattage consumption, and longevity. The lamp type will also determine matters such as color temperature, color rendering, and heat production. When shopping for parking lot lights, the lamp should be the first thing you look at to ensure success.

2. Invest in LED

While there are different types of lamps on the market today, such as metal halide and high-pressure sodium, the best bet is still LED. Offering the best in performance in terms of providing a higher lumen output while using lower energy for better efficiency and costs, LED is also a low heat option which ensures protection to internal components of the fixture. Another reason to get LED is that it lasts up to 4 times longer than other solutions which is a great investment in your business. LED also offers the best in terms of color rendering to reduce eye strain when reading signs and colors. Another benefit of LED lamps which makes them the one to beat is the color temperature scale. While some parking lot lights lamps are only available in a warmer or yellow tinged color temperature, LED offers a wider spectrum on the scale, so you can have bright, white light where needed.

3. Light areas with different fixtures if needed

When choosing the fixtures for your parking lot, you should consider where you need illumination and how much is needed. For instance, areas such as walkways and sidewalks will benefit from a more concentrated light spread whereas a large parking area will need multiple lamps with wider illumination spreads or focuses. This can all be determined by factors such as the shape and size of the fixture head which you should take into consideration. Lighting is about mixing and matching to get the right outcome so while you may find that large floodlight style fixtures are best for one area, a cobra head fixture might be ideal elsewhere on your property. You should also keep in mind light pollution. If there are residential areas near your business, you want fixtures with a more concentrated or even a directional focus to avoid disturbing nearby residents.

4. Consider the height

The height is just as important as the shape of the fixture. If you choose a light pole that isn’t tall enough, you run into an illumination scope that doesn’t spread as far as you need in terms of covering the size of the parking lot. While there are several sizes available, such as 16-foot, 20-foot, and 25-foot, the right size will depend on the size of your lot. The general rule is that the larger your lot, the higher your light pole should be to help with light spread.